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Design Commission reviews Jantzen Apartments (images)

The first Design Review hearing has been held for the Jantzen apartments, a new mixed use building by SERA Architects for developer Mapleton Waterloo. The 6 story building would include 210 residential units, including 21 apartments with stoops at the ground level. At the ground level there would also be 4,200 sq ft of retail space. 122 below-grade parking stalls are proposed, along with 272 long-term bike parking spaces.

The site for the project is a full block in the Kerns neighborhood. Much of the block is currently used as surface parking for the nearby Hanna Andersson headquarter (also known as the Jantzen Knitting Mills Company Building), and 30 of the parking stalls being created below the new building will be used to serve the office building. At the southeast corner of the block is a 1929 restaurant building, currently occupied by Club 21. The distinctive building was surveyed as part of the city’s 1984 Historic Resources Inventory, but is not protected by any historic designation. Also located on the block is a 1928 single story commercial building.

The U-shaped building is designed to read as a contemporary expression of the art deco architecture found in the surrounding neighborhood. Materials proposed include three-coat stucco, box rib metal panel, vinyl windows, aluminum storefront and steel balconies.

A Staff Report and Recommendation to the Design Commission [PDF], published before the September 8th hearing, did not yet recommend approval for the project. Issued cited as remaining to be resolved included: the need for more design detail, more glazing on upper-level corner and oriel elements, and a more eroded upper floor; the need for increased retail or live-work floor area on all project frontages; the need for additional protection via building recesses and/or continuous canopies; and the need for a residential lobby oriented to NE Hoyt St aligned with the central courtyard entry.

The Jantzen Apartments are currently scheduled to return in front of the Commission for a second hearing on October 6th.